Mass Effect 3

I think it works either way since you don't often have any say in what you dream about. Sometimes it's meaningful, sometimes not. It's open to interpretation.

Besides, it wasn't the child's death that haunted Shepard, it was there sheer volume of death over the years. That's why the dark shadows became more numerous each time and why the voices of more deceased characters could be heard each time. The image of the child was just a symbol.

I don't mind the kid at the beginning. I can appreciate the viewpoint that it seems like an enforced emotional anchor, but as others have pointed out, it would seem to fit, particularly with a paragon Shepard.

On my initial playthrough I remember thinking that the story would perhaps have been better served had it been Anderson copping it at the start of the game, to provide a greater emotional resonance, however, he provided a much better emotional conduit to what was going on on Earth as the game went along. Plus, he has a great, GREAT final scene at the end of the game, I wouldn't want to have missed that.

Besides, it wasn't the child's death that haunted Shepard, it was there sheer volume of death over the years. That's why the dark shadows became more numerous each time and why the voices of more deceased characters could be heard each time. The image of the child was just a symbol.

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If the child is just a symbol rather than the catalyst

(no pun intended)

for the dream, then why wasn't Shepard having similar dreams before his death?

^ Still, the case could be made that these dreams are a symptom of latent indoctrination. Considering, for example, that every single time Shepard has these dreams is immediately after being in very close proximity to a Reaper (First on Earth, where the reapers are everywhere, then on Tuchanka where the damn thing almost steps on him at least twice, and finally at Kronos Station, where he has to climb the spine of the proto-reaper to get to the lab).

I would even go so far as to say that the original boy was always a figment of Shepard's imagination; he saw him playing on the rooftop and later hallucinated him during the escape sequence as reaper nanides began to infiltrate his brain.

I know there are issues with indoctrination theory, but this single idea is the only thing I've ever seen that explains how the Illusive Man is able to control Shepard and Anderson in the end. He can control them -- to a limited degree -- because the REAPERS can control them, because they're both suffering early-onset indoctrination from being in the presence of the reapers for too long.

^ TIM can "control" Shep and Anderson because he's infested with reaper tech. The reason I put control in inverted commas is because it's not really control. It's a brute force exertion that restrains them physically. They're both still in full possession of their own thoughts, it's only the motor cortex that's being got at. Muscle control, nothing more and it's pretty crude at that. He can stop them in their tracks, force them on their knees and make them squeeze a trigger. That's all.

I think it actually says in the codex that any attempt to take over a subjects mind using reaper indoctrination tech has it's restrictions. For full mental domination it takes a *long* time with almost constant exposure to reaper tech. It can be done quickly but the trade-off is that the subject will be of greatly diminished capacity. If they tried that with Shep & Anderson then they'd be reduced to gibbering wrecks...which begs the question: why didn't they?

They couldn't because even loaded with their tech, even after six months of sitting next to a reaper embryo corpse and whatever that artefact on Palavan did to give him those freaky eyes--even then they still didn't have full control of TIM. Even at that point they could only *influence* him. Same with Saren. The guy spent *years* flying around in Sovereign's belly, was similarly infested with reaper implants and yet you're still able to sow doubt in his mind on Virmire and on the Citadel you can talk him into suicide.

And no, "indoctrination theory" doesn't help to explain it. Indoctrination theory makes even less sense than the official ending.

I think it works either way since you don't often have any say in what you dream about. Sometimes it's meaningful, sometimes not. It's open to interpretation.

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And if we were talking about real life, that would hold. But since this is a narrative, its inclusion means it's meaningful, full stop.

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I was talking in terms of roleplaying. As in how those dreams apply to *your* Shepard.

If the child is just a symbol rather than the catalyst

(no pun intended)

for the dream, then why wasn't Shepard having similar dreams before his death?

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...because she hadn't witnessed the horror of a planet under a full Reaper invasion? Sorry, I'm not sure what you're getting at. I mean sure, seeing the kid in the vent and then again on the shuttle most likely had a crystallizing effect on Shep's subconscious, so the image came to embody everyone Shepard had lost, everyone still dying and Shepard's own insecurities and doubts. Call it the straw that broke the camel's back or the opening of the flood gates. The end result is the same. The kid just stuck in her mind. Minds are like that.

Mind you who's to say Shepard didn't have nightmares before that point? Any PTS she may have is never really addressed in the previous games, which is why the dreams feel like they're out of the blue.

/\ I've played through several of the "missions", but haven't unlocked the Mirror Match mode yet. I did unlock all the characters. Except Jacob.

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Much as it pains me to say it, you probably should unlock Jacob too as buying all the unlocks opens a little quest chain. Nothing major, just some extra match rewards with a little story to go with it, but still worth it.

The mirror match was pretty tough, did it once just to get the achievement and didn't bother with it again on subsequent playthoughs. Did it with my soldier using the Lancer with incendiary ammo and armor piercing mod, which rips through just about anything. The key to the arena is to unlock the stuff first that will allow you to complete the challenges, and then if you want to easily get gold scores, fight super elites with no medigel/no ammo containers, and use the Lancer, which makes the no ammo containers irrelevant.

So... has anybody played through the Armax Arsenal Arena much? Anybody had any luck with the "Mirror Match" mode? Maybe I'm just not very good, but... damn...

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Yeah, it was tough but doable. Honestly I found the super elite Collector match to be by far the most challenging. Must had died half a dozen times trying to win that match.

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Hmm, I know from multiplayer the Collectors are a lot tougher overall, but I've had no issue with Super Elite Reapers and Cerberus (Collectors haven't come up), so I don't know they'd be impossible for me. And the Fatal Error didn't give me any significant trouble with this build. The Mirror Match, though, I just have no luck at all with. Wave 1 maybe, but Wave 2...

Maybe it's my build? Playing Infiltrator and the Cloak seems to be completely ineffective so I can't even line up a shot...

The thing with cloak is that if you don't change positions after using it, enemies will still hit you because they just shoot at the last place they saw you. Cloak, change position (just a little will do) fire off a power (incinerate, sabotage or your any stunning or damaging bonus power) then quickly get off a headshot. I can kill an banshee in three or four shots like that. Less if I co-ordinated the squadmates' powers to strip the barriers first.

Also, something a lot of people don't seem to realise is that for an infiltrator, weapon weight and cooldowns don't matter. So long as you interrupt your cloak before it runs out on it's own, your cooldown will always be the same. This means you can equip as many weapons as you like, including ARs & SGs and you don't need to bother with the 'ultralight materials' mods. Just make sure you ALWAYS cloak before you use any power. Since doing so give you a damage bonus anyway, there's really no reason you shouldn't.

It also matters which squadmates you choose, how you equip them and what you're up against. The mirror matches are all about stripping defences, so you want them to have a good range of powers. Overload and shield drain are obviously best for stripping shields, warp is great for both armour and barriers, plus it can both detonate and prime for explosions. Reave works well too since it's also an AoE, so combined with singularity it's can be devastating to small groups.

I tried that - cloak and move then take a shot - which always works perfectly on most enemies. Like you said, Black Widow + armor piercing ammo = one clip and done for a Banshee. But it's like the Mirror Match opponents see right through it; even without taking a shot or firing a power after moving, they still make a beeline for me as though I'm not even shrouded.

Ehh, I guess I'll just keep working on it, try some different squaddies. Maybe turn the difficulty down to Normal. Thanks for the pointers!

The Mirror Match was pretty easy for my Soldier, but impossible so far for my Adept.
The incredibly accurate pyro grenades combined with all shielded + armoured opponents + suicidal mirror shepards who rush you and knock you out of position in wave 3 always kills me. Once my squishy Adept is forced out of cover he dies incredibly fast.

Currently replaying ME1 (Paragon vanguard who'll kill Ashley and romance Miranda) and I finally bit the bullet and bought the Pinnacle Station DLC, since it's currently 50% off on Origin. Yeah, it truly is the worst Mass Effect DLC, I'd even go so far as to say worse than the weapon/armor DLC's since those at least add something new to the game, whereas all the gear you can get in Pinnacle already exists in the base game ("Thank you, turian whose high score I beat 8 times, for this gun I find in every other loot container!") I'm amazed they charge money for this piece of crap, whereas Bring Down the Sky, which has an actual story and minor ME2/ME3 repercussions, is free. It is a little interesting though how both aspects of the DLC, the combat simulator and the apartment, would reappear in the Citadel DLC.

Oh well, I'm only out $2.50, and I can at least now claim I own the "complete" versions of all three games, with the exception of a few minor promotional items.

Wasn't the 'Pinnacle Station' DLC farmed out to some other other studio on the cheap? I recall something to that effect being mentioned somewhere as an explanation of the overall poor quality. Still, it does seem strange that even now they're charging for it. You'd think they'd make it free or just roll it into the main game...on the other hand perhaps the main game is better off without it.

Never played it myself, but I watched an LP on the youtubes and it looked like a colossal wast of time. I know the apartment does hove some useful features (grenade restock IIRC?) and while it might be *nice*...I just can't see myself grinding through those horrible VR missions just for that.

Yeah, anyway just finished my infiltrator playthrough. I honestly thought I would just get as far as London and just stop it there...but somehow Citadel managed to make me want to take it all the way to the end. Part of me has the foolish hope that the "legend" save file will actually be worth having in a few years...

P.S. Anyone ever had trouble with DLC content disappearing? Took me a while to notice, but on a new game I started for my insanity playthrough, the N7 Defender armour and the Valkyrie just aren't there. It may have something to do with an "online pass" issue I--and others I've seen on BSN--encountered around the same time I imported the save, back when Reckoning was released. Took THREE separate contacts with EA's live chat tech to get it sorted. Once to fix the issue and twice more to fix the problems the first fix caused (the second guy was no help at all!)

I hope that's it since the armour is still there on my older saves and I hope if I start *another* new game it should be back.